Foley v. Wilson
- Ronnie Abrams
- 1:18-cv-00504
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Foley v. Wilson, Judge Ronnie Abrams awarded Benjamin Foley $73,868 in prejudgment interest on his breach-of-contract claim.
Benjamin Foley received $73,868 in prejudgment interest. Peter Wilson and KPC, LLC were affected by the interest award and the direction to enter judgment.
What happened
In Foley v. Wilson, Benjamin Foley sought prejudgment interest on his breach-of-contract claim against Peter Wilson and KPC, LLC.
Foley argued that interest should begin when he transferred $400,000 in February 2012. The court explained that interest generally begins when the breach occurred, but the record did not show when Wilson was required to transfer the shares or when the breach occurred.
Judge Ronnie Abrams therefore used January 19, 2018—the date the lawsuit was filed—as the interest start date and awarded Foley $73,868 in prejudgment interest. The court directed the Clerk to enter judgment under the order and a prior order, and to close the case.
The detailed version
- Foley v. Wilson · No. 1:18-cv-00504
- Ronnie Abrams
- Feb. 7, 2020
Background
Benjamin Foley submitted a memorandum supporting the prejudgment-interest portion of his motion for default judgment. He sought interest on his breach-of-contract claim at New York’s statutory rate of 9% per year.
The court stated that, under New York law, a plaintiff who prevails on a breach-of-contract claim is entitled to prejudgment interest. The interest ordinarily is calculated from the earliest ascertainable date on which the cause of action existed, generally the date of the alleged breach.
Contract and Proposed Interest Date
Foley asserted that his claim arose on February 13, 2012, when he transferred $400,000 to the defendants. The court found that Foley had established that the parties entered into an oral contract under which he would transfer the money to Wilson, Wilson would use it to buy Uniloc shares, and Wilson would transfer those shares to Foley. Foley had transferred the money, but Wilson had not transferred any Uniloc shares.
The record did not establish when Wilson was required to transfer the shares or take another specific action. It also did not support the conclusion that the breach occurred on February 13, 2012. At most, the allegations showed that Foley first learned of the breach in 2017, when Wilson allegedly admitted that the shares had not been transferred because of a previously undisclosed restriction on transferring them. The opinion stated that even the timing of that 2017 admission was unclear.
Ruling
Because the precise breach date was ambiguous, the court selected January 19, 2018, the date the action was filed, as the starting date for prejudgment interest. Judge Ronnie Abrams awarded Foley $73,868 in prejudgment interest. The Clerk of Court was directed to enter judgment in accordance with this order and the court’s January 2, 2020 order, and to close the case.
Disposition
The order resolved the prejudgment-interest issue and directed entry of judgment and closure of the case. The opinion does not state the full disposition of the earlier motion for default judgment beyond referring to the January 2, 2020 order.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.